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Thursday, April 09, 2015

Prawfsblawg and friendship

I remember pretty clearly -- at least, as clearly as I'm able to remember anything these days -- talking with Danny Markel on the phone in 2005 about his invitation to join the crew at Prawfsblawg. I was a little bit nervous -- and I told him so -- about joining an up-and-running group that already seemed to have an interesting "voice" of its own and about whether the views, intuitions, and "takes" I was sharing (or imposing) at my other blog-home, Mirror of Justice, might mess up the harmony of voices at Prawfs. Danny said -- again, I feel pretty sure I won't forget this and it meant and means a lot to me -- "we're friends, and disagreement among friends doesn't mean anything's wrong."

I think this statement says a lot about Danny and about what it was that made and makes him so special to so many. We corresponded fairly often about this or that draft article or blog-post and it felt like we were often disagreeing. But, it was fun. He had a habit of calling me, just to check in, when he was on the road. (I imagine he used a lot of his in-car-time to check in with friends. Why let that time go to waste, he probably thought, on sports-talk radio?) "Hey, pal -- it's Danny" was always the beginning of a welcome and warm conversation . . . or argument.

I've blogged less in recent years than I used to, both at MOJ and here at Prawfs. I'm not sure why; I'm inclined to blame it on my side-job, i.e., driving kids around. Whatever the reason, though, my participation in and at Prawfs -- in the past and now -- is not separable in my mind from the spirit and practice of friendship that I will always associate with Danny.